Perth home market sees gains in October

Perth home market posted positive results in the month of October, with the median house price and home listings in the state increasing.

Perth’s median house price rose 1% to $510,000 over the period, which was driven by the change in weather.

REIWA President Damian Collins said that values began to strengthen after cooling in winter. “In a city renowned for its sunshine, the Perth market tends to slow during the cold wintery months. Thankfully, we’re well into spring now which has translated into renewed enthusiasm in the market with more sellers listing their property for sale and prices improving,” he noted.

The industry group acknowledged that their figures did not match those in the Hedonic Home Value Index for October of CoreLogic, REIWA’s data partner.

CoreLogic reported that house prices in Greater Perth declined 0.8% during the month, but REIWA emphasised that it all boils down to the type of measures used to monitor change in values.

“The Hedonic Values Index aims to capture the entire property market including what has and hasn’t sold recently. reiwa.com’s median house price is based on actual sales and suggests that the properties that are selling are beginning to sell at higher prices than a month ago,” REIWA explained.

One thing is certain— Perth’s property market remains in the bottom territory but is set to improve given that the worst of the downturn had passed.

“We should see uplift as buyers and investors take advantage of current market conditions,” Collins said.

Including headliners in the report, the top performing suburbs for median house price growth among the properties that was bought were Roleystone, South Perth, Como, Atwell and Doubleview. Spearwood, Gosnells, Secret Harbour, Karrinyup and Forrestfield also showed encouraging results.

It was also found that listing stock for sale in October was up 7.8% compared to September.

'“This is a seasonal trend that we’ve observed for a number of years now, even during the boom, with listings typically increasing in October and November as vendors become more motivated to sell in the lead up to Christmas,” Collins noted.

The 10 suburbs with the biggest growth in listing stock – percentage wise – were Kensington, Cottesloe, Glen Forrest, Greenwood, Shenton Park, Mount Hawthorn, East Fremantle, Nedlands, Brentwood and South Fremantle. Only two of the suburbs mentioned have median house prices above the Perth Metro median. Seven of these suburbs, meanwhile, have medians above $800,000.

More people also turned to the luxury end of the Perth market, taking advantage of the opportunity to do a quick sale at a competitive price in the higher-end suburbs where there is good buyer demand.